Rachel Ray Bashing Moratorium

Can I request a moratorium on Rachel Ray bashing? Don't get me wrong - I am not a fan by any means but you need to underetand her perspective.

Most of us on this board are pretty enthusiastic about cooking, not to say fanatical in some cases. Rachel's target audience is people who are the complete antithesis of us - people who do not like to cook. That being so, it's only natural that we would find some of her methods questionable but for her audience it makes perfect sense.

I'm all for not bashing her anymore, let's just keep bashing the whole station. I can probably name 15 people in the public eye and some of their regulars doing something related to FN who haven't shown they can boil an egg. Did I see at least 2 people who used to host kiddie shows with their own food show?
Any professional who doesn't think this whole FN entertainment concept is making a mockery of our art is still asleep.
And how greedy can some of the popular more experienced chefs be to participate in some of the stupidest slams on the art.
I'm having trouble trying to think of other reality or competetive show that mocks one certain profession by letting people take a shot at being someone in our industry. There must be plenty but just can't get by all this cripper.
Let's see, maybe some personality can play Cop, prison guard, lawyer, accountant etc.
sorry

I'm with you Pan; the whole FN thing just leaves me cold. People who know of my interest in food assume I must be glued to it and the truth is I can't stand it. I have expressed the view many times that a genuine attempt to teach on TV is perfectly acceptable (Lydia, Jaques, Julia and others) but purely as a source of entertainment it is a travesty.

I mentioned her in a post lately, but I certainly wasn't bashing her. She's great for her target audience. I, however, am not her target audience. And I don't think there are many of us here that fall into that category.

Why do people want to bash Ms Ray? She is successful in what she does. More successful than me. I don't hold that against her. I don't watch the show or for that matter FTV. But this cycle of watching television with disatisfaction then having to purge oneself of the experience seems a little strange to me. By the fact that you view it shows support for the network. We all want to think that we are the best and that the people we see in the media are somehow not more skilled just luckier. Give it up. We choose where we are and success comes from the work involved in getting and maintaining it. I haven't bought any celebrity chef cookbooks, Emerilware, or bought cable to watch cooking shows. But for everybody who does- Go nuts!

You know, it's funny that some people think that Rachael Ray makes a "mockery" of our art... but... the funny thing is that even within our art there are superiority complexes... I mean there are many cultures who view their style of cuisine to be superior (for whatever reason...)

The fact is that Rachael Ray doesn't even ADDRESS the culinary arts... she simply shows people that they can do more themselves than they thought... I think alot of her recipes and ideas are somewhat rudimentary, but she never professes to out-chef anyone either.

People who view Rachael Ray as a mocker need to take a serious, hard look at what their own standards are and why they began cooking to begin with... There are no absolutes, no one can ever be completely right with their perspective... why? because you might like broccoli and I might not... simple as that. The "perfection" of food is subject only to the taste buds of the person eating it.

You know we can agree to disagree on this Rachael Ray and Food Network deal until the cows come home. Whenever that might be. Its becoming pretty obvious to me that no one will ever agree on whos right and whos wrong. I think the whole perspective has gotten totally blown out of whack. Well with all due respect to everyone in the community here.Old Cakerookie is bowing out of these Food Network threads. Namely because I cannot be subjective and non partial in this area. And I am not into stepping on toes to prove a point.

You know I used to like Rachel Ray. Never really watched her cooking show though for obvious reasons. I do like $40 a day, but only because I like seeing where she goes. I do have a bone though that $40 a day for one person seems like a lot of money to be spending on food. That might be because I am poor or I am cheap or I am a combination of the 2 .
Personally I think the real problem with Rachel Ray and Emeril and the whole Food Network thing is the same problem that radio has. Someone will come out with a good song or show that everybody likes to some extent and the programmers ram it down our throats constantly as if we are the geese being fed for fois gras:lips: until we just can't stands it no more! A song or a show we may have liked a month or two ago now seems to be on everytime we turn on the tube or the radio, and then it gets repeated and repeated until we're ready to break the tv/radio or chop off their heads if we see them on the street!